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H. Thomas Hayden
recently concluded over 35 years of service,
which included the Agency for International
Development, the Marine Corps, defense industry
and the Pentagon. His specialties are Intelligence,
Counterinsurgency Operations, Counter-terrorism,
and Joint Concepts Development and Experimentation.
His Marine Corps assignments have included
command of two separate battalions; AC/S G-2,
4th MARDIV & AC/S G-2 FMFEurope; Branch Head,
HQMC, Special Operations and Low Intensity
Conflict (SO/LIC); Special Assistant to the
Assistant Secretary of Defense for SO/LIC;
and, Senior Program Analysts at HQMC with
the Joint Staff and DoD at the Pentagon. Overseas
assignments included Vietnam, Japan & Okinawa,
Europe, Central America, Saudi Arabia and
Kuwait, Somalia, Singapore, Philippines, and
Colombia. He has an MBA (Pepperdine) and an
MA in International Relations (University
of Southern California). He has written two
books and is working on a third.
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July 29, 2005
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Many think the Islamic suicide bombers are a new phenomenon and are wondering why people would do such a thing. Suicide bombers were not uncommon in World War II when Japanese soldiers wanted to kill Americans and die for the Emperor. Kamikaze pilots used their suicide missions as a last resort to stop the allies.
Vietnam had suicide missions from the Viet Cong that had no religious significance other than a seemingly patriotic desire for the removal of a perceived foreign invader, and the reunification of their homeland under the communist North Vietnamese.
In Vietnam, the suicide self-immolation of Buddhists monks was a strange way to protest the government and astonishing sight to see. The monk would walk calmly into the middle of a town square and then other monks would pour gasoline on the kneeling monk. He then took out a box of matches and lit one and was quickly engulfed in flames.
Recent history has many examples of people willing to die for a cause.
In 1981 we saw a most unusual way to commit suicide when members of the Irish Republican Army starved themselves to death for their cause of expelling the British Army from Northern Ireland. Led by Bobby Sands, who died after 60 days of starvation, nine other IRA members followed Sands to their death.
However, the most prolific suicide bombers have been seen in Sri Lanka with the Tamil Tigers. Southern Sri Lanka, dominated by the Sinhalese Buddhist government, tried to establish a Sinhalese state and disenfranchised the Tamil who are mostly Hindu. India has been accused of providing funds, training and weapons to the Hindu Tamil.
In 1991, Tamil Tigers assassinated the former Indian Prime Minister Rajiv Ghandi. Later, a suicide bomber killed the Sri Lankan President Ranasinghe Premadasa. The revolt or insurgency in Sri Lanka is not primarily a religious struggle. It is to gain independence or some form of political power for the Tamil.
In Russia, Chechen Muslims have been conducting an insurgency against the Russian government for over ten years. They have mounted extensive terrorist suicide attacks in Moscow. The two most famous Chechen terrorist actions were the seizure of the Moscow Theater and the seizure of the school in Besland that resulted in the death of over 300 people, mostly children.
Americans were introduced to Islamic suicide bombers in 1983 when a Hezbollah terrorist drove a truck into the Marine Corps headquarters building in Beirut killing, 241 U.S. servicemembers and a number of foreign nationals. Since that date, there have been a number of attacks against Americans.
The terrorist picture in Palestine and Israel is much different than in Afghanistan or Iraq. Most terrorist experts agree that the Second Infatada, general uprising against the Israel occupation of Palestine, has no end in sight. The Hezbollah fighters in Lebanon, supplied and trained by Iran, and many from Hamas in Palestine, will not accept any form of peace with Israel.
The situation in Iraq and Afghanistan is very clear. Terrorists attack Americans because many see the US as occupiers and not liberators. U.S. and Iraqi authorities say that most of the suicide bombers are “foreigners” -- not Iraqis.
I think that the large number of unemployed and anti-American Iraqis provide as much if not more of the suicide attackers. Additionally, the link between Islamic fundamentalism and the suicide attacks can be misleading. While the vast majority of the bombers are Muslim, it is more likely that these attacks are directed to drive the US and the coalition out of Iraq. However, Islamic fundamentalists obviously have religious roots that will remain to fight any Iraqi government that does not establish an Islamic state modeled after Iran.
So what drives the recruits to commit suicide?
Dan Eggen and Scott Wilson wrote an article for The Washington Post , “Suicide bombing: It's getting worse,” which identified the “cult of glorification” which they described as a mix of nationalist, personal and religious fervor, and a fervent hatred against Israel, where boys see the glory being given to the suicide bombers and want to emulate that action. Many Arab Muslim states provide money to the families of suicide bombers. However, the Israelis have taken the drastic step in bulldozing the homes of the terrorist families so the suicide bombers know that their action will bring destruction and arrest to members of their families.
If one were to rank worldwide terrorism based on ferocity and effectiveness, I would rank the Tamil Tigers first, Hezbollah second and Al Qaeda third. Al Qaeda has spanned a worldwide movement of like-minded Muslim extremism, and it has become hard to identify who are members of Al Qaeda and who are local splinter groups.
Be assured that Al Qaeda is still the most dangerous terrorist organization directed against Americans and the United States.
The recent arrest of the terrorists in London is surprising when the July 7, 2005 bombers seemed to have committed suicide. Maybe it was not suicide. Perhaps they were duped into taking a trial run and did not know that they had active bombs in their rucksacks. Pictures of the July 21 bombers running like mad from their intended target would seem to indicate that they did not want the same fate the met the July 7 bombers.
The Bali, Madrid, and London attacks could demonstrate that the Islamic extremists may be part of a worldwide movement that has been inspired by Osama bin Laden and the Al Qaeda publicity.
Suicide bombers are not new and are not going away when the US and its allies leave Afghanistan and Iraq. The international news media has given the publicity that drives the terrorists and has inspired others to join their cause.
The threat to conduct a large-scale terrorist attack in the United Sates should still be a real concern to all. It's not a matter of if, but when. It maybe sooner than many think.
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© 2005 H. Thomas Hayden. All opinions
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